Joe Root, on the cusp of Greatness.
"It takes but one shot to define brilliance."
Monday, 5th January, 2026, Joe Root posted his 41st Test century on a picture-perfect Sydney day, his second in Australia, an anomaly that should be let through to the keeper, and sees him now closing fast on Sachin Tendulkar, who has 51 Test centuries in his Mumbai vault.
English commentators—in particular, Michael Vaughan—are bullish on Root’s chances of overhauling the ‘Little Master.’ It will be some achievement; Sheffield and Mumbai are very different places.
SpeakingCricket is made possible by your subscriptions. If you’re still a free subscriber, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Your support truly makes a difference.
Vaughan, also a product of the Sheffield Collegiate Cricket Club, has watched Root’s journey since his early days of the young Root pilfering through the ‘big boys’ kit bags. Their career paths are eerily similar: Sheffield Collegiate to Yorkshire, to England, and then national captaincy. Both prefer the role of technical engineers over the flashy designers. I watched Vaughan play one of his first, first-class innings against Lancashire (as in, I was playing). Wasim Akram removed David Byas early; the Old Trafford pitch was quick and bouncy, so it was no easy assignment for the young Vaughan. He also had the England U19 captaincy tag and general all-time next big thing on his head. Wasim honed in on that same target without success, alternating between over and round, full and short, often a sign of frustration from ‘The Sultan of Swing’. Vaughan made around 60; it felt like it deserved more from the bleachers. He was on his way. You shouldn’t need reminding, Wasim was a genius with ball-in-hand.
Root now finds himself tied third with Ricky Ponting. I always marvelled at Ponting’s 50-to-100 conversion rate (in Test Cricket), mainly because of my own inadequate efforts at the level, or levels below. I recall him close to parity at one point; it might have been 18 to 20—I was more of a 1 to 4 ratio, the lure of a fresh ‘Benny’ was often too much, not so for ‘Punter’.
Joe Root, in converting his day one fifty to his second century of the series, meant he was zero and five in his last attempts, so moving you to believe that 10 more hundreds is very doable for the likeable Yorkshireman—yes, Root’s recent numbers augment Vaughan’s connected optimism.
And back to Mr Root. It takes but one shot to define brilliance.
Joe Root presented his signature shot early in the afternoon session on day one. Scott Boland was being Boland: persistent, stoic, annoying, metronomic. I’m sure Boland wasn’t frustrated by Root’s lockdown defence, with his front pad perfectly inside the line and a late delivery of the blade resulting in perfect defence, or a surgical deflection to third man. No, Scott Boland brings sterner stuff.
It was more of one wearing down the other first. Boland’s length was fuller than usual, four to five metres, and the line was wide, maybe sixth stump. To leave or stroke? Root chose the latter. Forget the slips, gulley, and catching cover. Once Root closed off, realigning his shoulder direction to extra cover, and the bat swing looped in from outside his hands, the result was as inevitable as death and taxes. For the technical folk, this bat path adjustment is pivotal to Root’s sublime offside play. Once his hands return to his body and then extend out to the line of the ball, it’s all but over. The only spoiler can be the timing of his footwork. His step to the cover-drive ball is grooved and dependable; the transfer of weight and timing of his foot landing and ball contact are critical to the purity of strike. He didn’t let anyone down. Nobody moved, the strike was pure, he’s a flusher in golf speak. The Kookaburra flashed to the cover-boundary, the moment was devoid of manipulation and improvisation, just the basics, the shot for that ball, without the fluff, and dare I say - no, I’m not saying that, this was a sacrilegious moment, one never to forget. I could watch it on repeat throughout a Melbourne COVID-19 lockdown. Thank you, Joe Root.
I watched Mike Atherton play some decent cover drives—he was better than his numbers say, a dicky back restricted his ease of stroke play. Vaughan was also an elegant offside player. He played his cover drive from close to the ground, but his signature shot for me, though, was his back-foot cover drive. He stood tall and played on top of the bounce; he was a beautiful square driver.
That said, nothing compares with a Joe Root cover drive. I’m sure it’s standard transmission for him; what he might not know is the joy one can derive from watching him match his footwork, bat swing, then contact. It’s just a thing of pure beauty. And I’m a Lancastrian! That says it all.
Australia resume this morning at two for 166 with Travis Head (91*) galloping to another Ashes century. Earlier, Joe Root assumed centre stage with a flawless 160. If some of his peers had chosen to stick around longer, England would have extended their first innings total beyond 384 and would have been in a much stronger position.
